Hot doughnuts and specialty coffee are just around the corner from Mercer University’s Macon campus. Glazed opened Wednesday in the former Daylight Donuts location in Mercer Landing, 1530 Mercer University Drive.
Owner Neal Shah and his three new managing partners have transformed and rebranded the business. Glazed is operated by Z Beans Coffee owner Shane Buerster, a Mercer alumnus, and his team; Ashley James, owner of Mini Dixie Donuts in Warner Robins, is providing fresh donuts; Carter Canady with Canady Media is handling social media and marketing; and Shaw is focusing on the scaling and new business aspects.
Buerster already knew Shah and James from supplying Z Beans coffee to both Daylight Donuts and Mini Dixie Donuts.
“We had been discussing trying to go into business together, because what pairs better with coffee than doughnuts?” Buerster said.
Most doughnut shops only sell basic coffee, and most coffee shops only sell basic doughnuts. They wanted to have a shop where customers could get both premium doughnuts and premium coffee.
James said she used to own a Daylight Donuts in Utah and wanted to get back into the doughnut business when she moved back to Georgia. In April, she opened Mini Dixie Donuts, where she makes miniature-sized doughnuts with a variety of glazes and toppings.
Every morning, James delivers a batch of fresh vanilla cake doughnuts to Glazed. Customers can get “on-demand, fresh, hot glaze,” Buerster said. They choose their glaze and toppings and then their doughnuts are run through a Thermoglaze machine in the shop.
“I hope that Glazed continues to grow and prosper,” James said. “I want the best for all of those guys. It’s a great opportunity for my shop, and for them to be right by Mercer, that’s even better.”
The store will start out with strawberry, chocolate and maple icing and coconut, chocolate chips, Fruity Pebbles, bacon and sprinkles for the toppings.
Glazed will have a full-service coffee bar and sell all the same speciality Z Beans drinks as well its own private label Z Beans blend, Buerster said.
“We figured this would be a great partnership to be actually using Z Beans coffee, bringing in Mini Dixie Donuts, and our unique selling point is running the doughnuts through the hot glaze machine. There’s nothing like this,” Shah said.
Glazed will be open every day from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. and serve the Mercer and Macon communities. With a drive-thru, Glazed will be able to better cater to busy professionals who are driving downtown, Buerster said.
“We love the location,” Shah said. “We’re right across from Mercer; we have Five Star Stadium right across from us. We have that whole downtown commute traffic. We think it will be a great hit.”
